Tuesday, October 21, 2014

October 21, 1897 -- Dedication Ceremony for the Yerkes Observatory(cr.rps.gov)

Attention turned to
Williams Bay, Wisconsin on this date, October 21, when a crowd gathered for the
ceremony that would dedicate the University of Chicago’s great Yerkes
Observatory, featuring the largest refracting telescope that would ever
exist.It was a day of speeches,
glorifying both the telescope in its Beaux Arts observatory and the man who
made the whole thing possible, Charles Tyson Yerkes.

As is so often the
case when the history of Chicago is examined, the story of the observatory is a
fascinating study in conflicting impulses that drive people to leave their mark
on history and the battle of good and evil that can both canonize and condemn
individuals whose reach may sometimes exceed their grasp.Charles Tyson Yerkes was nowhere near a
saint, but the sins of which he was accused ultimately eliminated much of the
chaos of Chicago’s surface transit lines and gave a great observatory to the
world.

William Rainey Harper

This story begins
in July of 1892 when the president of the University of Chicago, William Rainey
Harper, invited a young astronomer, George Hale, to join the faculty at the
university.It was a good move for
Harper . . . with the 24-year-old came an observatory the young man’s father
had built at 4545 Drexel Boulevard and a promise to raise $250,000 in cash within
three years to build a bigger observatory.Young George was, as part of the deal, to be named as the director of
that new observatory.

By September the
lens of history begins to sharpen George Hale’s ambitions when he learns there
are two 42-inch optically perfect lenses that are sitting useless as a result
of a deal that fell through.That deal,
brokered by the University of Chicago, had at its heart the construction of the
world’s largest observatory in the world atop California’s Mount Wilson.[atro.uchicago.edu.]

The trick was to
find a way to cough up 16,000 bucks to get the things out of hock.A willing benefactor turned up in October as
Hale and Harper drop in on Charles Tyson Yerkes at his office at 444 North
Clark Street on October 4, just three days after the university officially
opened its doors.[Franch, John.Robber Baron:The Life of Charles Tyson Yerkes.University of Illinois Press:2006]

Promising that the
telescope would be the largest in the world and that, with a little luck, it
might even be ready in time to be displayed at the great World’s Columbian
Exposition in 1893, the two men convinced Yerkes to foot the bill.

Charles Tyson Yerkes

“Gentlemen, go
ahead and build the finest telescope on earth and let it be equipped with
everything that is needed to make it the best,” Yerkes is supposed to have
said.“When you have it all finished
send the bill to me and I will pay it.Never mind the question of cost.”

Unfortunately, a
sum was mentioned in the meeting on Clark Street – somewhere around $60,000 for
the telescope and the frame on which it would be mounted.You can’t blame Yerkes (and he can be blamed
for a lot) for figuring that was the figure that he would eventually owe.Perhaps, more unfortunate was that there was
no mention in the meeting of the building that would eventually be needed to
house the massive piece of apparatus.

The question of the building become a good-sized problem
by January of 1893 when Harper received a letter stating that without knowledge
of the final site for which the telescope was intended, the piece could not be
finished in time for display at the fair. With time sliding past, a site just outside
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin was chosen after a group considered candidates from Highland Park to Peoria.

You can imagine Mr.
Yerkes’s reaction.Facing significant
criticism in Chicago because of his heavy-handed – some might say less than
legal – methods of doing business, the railroad magnate was probably hoping the
telescope would deflect a galaxy of criticism and underscore the magnificent
generosity of a gift that placed Chicago second-to-none in the world of
astronomy.But the great observatory
would be sited in farm country, 80 miles north of the city, and it would take a significant amount of effort to get there to hold the grandiosity

of the railroad baron's gift.

Construction of the dome of the Yerkes Conservatory(atlasobscura.com)

In any event, the
great telescope was somehow completed for display at the Great Fair.It was massive.Mounted on a base that stood 43 feet high
and weighed 50 tons, the six-ton telescope towered above fairgoers in the
Manufactures Building.

Even before the
telescope was finished, though, the relationship between William Rainey Harper
and Yerkes began to deteriorate.Yerkes
had certain goals for his traction empire and was willing to do almost anything
to achieve them while Harper, as a prominent member of the Civic Federation,
was complicit in efforts by that group to curb corruption in the rapidly
growing city.Ultimately, though, Yerkes
wrote checks for $285,000 to cover the cost of the greatest observatory in the
world.

Despite the animosity, though, by October 21, 1897 the observatory was ready for dedication.With a design by Henry Ives Cobb, who had done so much work at the new
University of Chicago campus in Hyde Park (you might also want to check out the
Chicago Athletic Association Building on Michigan Avenue, the Newberry Library
at Clark and Walton, and many of the pre-1900 buildings at Lake Forest
College), the observatory had all of the classical touches that would have
appealed to Yerkes’s personal desire to impress all who beheld
it.

Two trains carried
over 700 people from Chicago to the ceremonies, which began with “the august
company of the college fathers,” entering the observatory dome room in a long
procession.Over 50 astronomers filed in
along with distinguished guests from around the country.Last in line were President William Rainey
Harper and Charles Yerkes.

A quartet played
Tschaikowsky’s Andante, at which The Tribune observed, “The acoustic properties
of the dome room were not all that could be wished for appreciating the
performance of the quartet, but it was pleasing, nevertheless, and was roundly
applauded.”[Chicago Tribune, October 22, 1897]

Details of John D. Rockefeller andWilliam Rainey Harper in the Beaux Artstylings of Henry Ives Cobb

After a rousing
lecture, The Importance of Astophysical Research and the Relation of
Astrophysics to Other Physical Sciences, President Harper rose to accept the
gift of the observatory and to recount the struggles it took to create the
observatory and the reasons for choosing Williams Bay as the site for the
telescope, disclosing that 26 different locations were considered before the
choice was made.

Then, turning to
the man who had made it all possible, President Harper said, “We realize that you
have greatly increased the glory of the university by furnishing an equipment
which makes it possible to discover new and important facts in the structure of
the universe . . . that you have honored the City of Chicago, the Northwest,
the entire Valley of the Mississippi, by planting in its midst an institution
which through the centuries will contribute to the uplifting of men and the
upbuilding of character.We appreciate
above all the simplicity and the sincerity of the motive which prompted you
make this gift and the purpose which has controlled you throughout these years
during which the gift has taken tangible form.”

Charles Tyson
Yerkes listened.He probably had a lot
to say, but he did not speak.

The Yerkes
Observatory is still in operation at its original location.You can learn more about it here.